Canadian media falsely reports Sidney Crosby’s arrest

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby getting arrested during the NHL offseason would immediately bring the hockey universe to a standstill. It’d be the biggest story in the history of Canada. Or something like that.

During the overnight hours Quebecor Media and its affiliates, including some of the country’s major tabloid papers, had the scoop of the offseason – Crosby was arrested by Ottawa police after an incident with his rented Porsche.

The only minor problem is that Crosby was not arrested.

In fact, he wasn’t even in Ottawa.

Falsely reporting the arrest of your country’s most notable athlete isn’t necessarily a great look for a company that proclaims itself to be “Canada’s Top Newspaper Chain.”

Oops.

Reports on sites like The Ottawa Sun, Winnipeg Sun, and national outlet Canoe.ca ran a short news briefing from Quebecor Media detailing Crosby’s arrest. Although all of the stories have been pulled, they live on in screenshot and cache form so Quebecor Media’s embarrassing incompetence and inaccuracy can be saved for posterity.

After these tabloid reports were published, real reporters took to Twitter to discount the veracity of the Crosby arrest.

The Ottawa police chief even took to Twitter to refute the reports. Nothing screams “2014” like a police chief taking to Twitter to deny a false report from a Canadian tabloid about Sidney Crosby’s arrest.

As Greg Wyshynski hypothesizes, could someone working for Quebecor Media mistook “out in Vail” for “Ottawa jail”? While that theory would be the highest of high comedy, the Ottawa Sun reported that Crosby was getting fingerprints and a mugshot. Where would they get those details? Where did the mysteriously appearing Porsche come from? And then there’s this question… HOW DID YOU FALSELY REPORT THE ARREST OF YOUR NATION’S MOST PROMINENT ATHLETE?

The only possible explanation for a reporting blunder on this scale is Rob Ford taking control of Canada’s media.

UPDATE: It took several hours, but Quebecor Media posted this retraction on the Ottawa Sun website:

Those surveyed by Deloitte averaged three streaming service subscriptions, but many weren't thrilled with the numbers of services they had to subscribe to get what they want. That's worth noting for sports, considering the fragmentation in the sports streaming landscape.

Those surveyed by Deloitte averaged three streaming service subscriptions, but many weren't thrilled with the numbers of services they had to subscribe to get what they want. That's worth noting for sports, considering the fragmentation in the sports streaming landscape.